For me it depends. While I enjoy the solitude of fishing alone I also enjoy of the camaraderie of fishing with other people. Last spring I was fishing with my brother and nephew. I was fly fishing and they were using spin tackle. I was catching more fish which peaked my nephew's interest. I set him up with a fly rod and a couple of BH nymphs. After a few brief lessons he hooked into a couple of fish. Since that trip, he fly fished a couple more times with some success. I would not be surprised if next year if he does more fly fishing then spin fishing.

Does anyone else notice that when fishing by yourself you catch more fish? I realized recently that every time I go out solo I always catch more fish. Any thoughts as to why?

It's pretty simple. There are X number of fish who are hungry and likely to be caught in the stream section fished. When alone, you spook, miss, lose, or catch X number of fish. When with another person, you do the same with X/2 number of fish. With 3, it's X/3. etc.

It's more true on small streams. If you fish a given length of stream, alone, you might normally catch 30 fish. With a 2nd, assuming the other is of reasonably equal skill, that'll turn into 30 between ya. Of course, with a 2nd, you'll often cover more ground so you end up with more than 30 between you, but it won't be double the distance, nor double the fish total.

It still does fit, to a lesser extent, on larger streams. You're still generally fishing in the vicinity of the other guy, often in the same pool. Take your typical pool. Alone, when on that pool, nobody else is gonna fish that pool, you'll fish it to yourself. You'll start at the tail and pick up the catchable ones there, then move to the middle, and do the same, then the head. But with another guy, if you start at the tail, HE goes to the head, and collectively you probably spook the middle before anyone fishes it. Then you gotta move onto another pool, which may have been fished recently by someone else.

I tend to fish alone most of the time, and thoroughly enjoy it despite my advancing years. Still my most rewarding trip this year was fishing (guiding) a friend who fly fished but was obviously not highly skilled (not that I am....) It started with me rigging him up in a manner I knew would catch trout on White Clay Creek. The icing on the cake was him landing a nice 14"trout while I offered encouragement. He then confided that he hadn't landed a trout all season and was thinking about giving up. Sharing can certainly be rewarding but on that day I landed fewer fish cause I fished less. After late lunch my buddy bagged it due to a sore back and I returned and caught more fish in an hour or two than we both had all morning. So yes fishing alone tends to result in more fish.